Sunday, December 23, 2007

On Christmas Eve, Peggy and I made homemade pizza for dinner. That got Ed to thinking that their has to be a way to make "parlor style" pizza at home. So, he has set off on the task. He has watched Alton Brown's pizza making episode many times and has read a lot on the internet about yeast and such and is trying to perfect pizza dough at home. So far it hasn't worked out! He's made 4 batches. He went to Home Depot to buy a stone (that broke while in the oven). He's cooked it on the rack. It has all burned! Each time the dough gets better, but not yet "it." It has our whole household in suspense! He even made a thing to put the pizza in the oven with and take it out with. I'll let you know the outcome.

Today was the big day. Hannah went into surgery about 9:45 this morning. Surgery took about 45 minutes and no more tonsils or adnoids. The doctor said that her tonsils were rotten, especially the right one. At some point in time she had an absess on it and that created a puss pocket that never went away. So that is why she was sick all the time and ran a fever for no real reason. We got home about 1:00, she took a nap from 2:30 to 6:00. She got up, ate some ice cream and is now eating party mix and watching Cars. I'm pushing lots of juice!

Here we are before the surgery. They had given her a relaxant medicine and she was a big groggy but did know what was going on!

This is after surgery. She was having trouble breathing so they gave her this breathing treatment. It settled her down and that was good.

Here we are leaving the surgery center. She wanted to ride in a wheelchair, but only if I did too!

Well, Christmas is here and gone now at the Wilson's. We have a tradition of opening our gifts on Christmas Eve. Ed let the girls and I open one present before dinner. He did that mainly because he got me a new mixer and we were having pizza and he wanted me to try it out on the dough. Works great! But it was good for the girls to have one present to play with for a while before they were inundated with lots of others. Here is Halee with hers - a remote control race car.Here are some pictures of them playing with their other gifts. This is Hannah and her ballet mat. It comes with a video to teach you some ballet, this mat and bar.

Halee got a Dora Adventure. It comes with the Dora outfit, maracas, the mat and video. You watch the video and go on the adventure on your mat. She loves to put on the "costume" and watch her movie.

Halee also got this stuffed Dora to sleep with. She is really into having some kind of baby to sleep with. They always seem to fall out of her bed at night. Maybe this gigantic one won't!

Halee was really into opening the presents. She wanted to open them all. She would go to the tree, get a present and try to open it. We would stop her and find out who it was for. If it wasn't for her, she would go and put it back. We did make her then take it to the person it was for and she would generally help them open it. Here they are helping Poppa.

Then Santa comes during the night. Here is Hannah looking at her stocking stuff.

One of the presents they got from Nana were these new outfits. They wanted to wear them today.

One of the presents Gramma and Poppa got this year was a new 4 wheeler. They couldn't wait to go on a ride. So here is Halee. . .

And here is Hannah. . .

We did have a very merry Christmas. However, our usual sickness has come. Hannah started running a fever Sunday night. Halee ran a bit of a fever today. Both have been kind of crabby and such all day! Hannah took a 4 hour nap and probably would have slept longer except I woke her at 6:00. I do want her to sleep tonight!

Tomorrow is the big day for Hannah. I called the dr today to see if this fever would be a problem. He said probably not as long her lungs (breathing) is okay and wont' interfer with the anthesia. Hopefully things will start looking better by the end of the week!

Today we went to a Christmas dinner at Ed's Gramma's. She lives in a cottage with 11 other elderly people. The staff of the cottage invited all the families to dinner. They opened gifts and had a prime rib dinner. We all had a fun time.

Here is Gram with one of her presents from Sheridan and Kay. Here are Halee and Hannah having fun together.

This is all of us. Well, actually Sheridan and Kay came later, but this is all of us Wilson's.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We have been busy, busy, busy! I'm ready for a break. Last week was filled with Christmas programs. This week is filled with Christmas parties! Halee's is tomorrow (Thursday) and Hannah's is Friday and there is one at the church building Friday night. Then we are off to Billings on Saturday for Christmas. When we get home on Thursday, hopefully we'll have a week of relaxation at home. Hannah is getting her tonsils and adnoids out on Wednesday (the 26th). She will need to rest and that will mean we get to too!

Just a couple of things for the week. One day I caught Halee singing and playing the piano. It was too cute to pass up.

Also, last week, my mom sent a package in the mail. In it were a few "open me now" presents. They all make noise! Here they are with them.

Monday, December 10, 2007

This weekend we went to West Yellowstone for a Winter Rendezvous. One of the elders of the church there owns the Days Inn. This is the off season because Yellowstone National Park is closed. So, every year (for 17 years) they have offered this rendezvous. They invite a bunch of speakers to come and give lessons (I think there were 8 total throughout the weekend). They also own a snowmobile shop and rent the snowmobiles for a hugely discounted price too. So, that is what a lot of people do in their free time. This year Ed and a friend went down early on Friday and spent the whole day snowmobiling. They also went on Saturday afternoon. I chose not to go this year. Anyway, Ed gave the girls each a ride!

Halee

Hannah

Then tonight was Halee's Christmas program. These programs are always interesting as no one is over 5! Halee's class is all 3 and 4 year olds. They sang two songs.

And here is the whole class (well all that was there).

Well, I have some videos, but I can't them to download. Actually they will upload but will not process. I started this blog yesterday and by noon today it was still processing! Any ideas on how to make it work?

Sunday, December 2, 2007

We started our weekend out by getting our Christmas tree out and decorated (yes, ours in artifical). The girls put most of the ornaments on, especially Halee. She put them mostly in the same spot. So, the majority of the ornaments this year are on the bottom right in this picture.

Then on Saturday we went downtown to decorate gingerbread houses. Every year on Christmas Stroll day, someone (I'm not sure who) puts on this event. They have all the supplies and you just get to have fun decorating. They give you an empty milk carton, a surface to build it on (we had pie plates) and a bag of candy. On the table is the frosting and trays of cereal, marshmellows and pretzels. And away you go! Here is Halee.

And here is Hannah.

Saturday afternoon, Ed built this fort for the girls. He used 3 boxes and duct taped them all together with a door and window. Believe it or not, both girls fit in it!

Today, Ed started putting some lights on the outside of our house. But before he did, he put some lights on Hannah! Halee wouldn't go for it.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

This blog is about Halee today. It was her day to go to school. She has been asking when she gets to go to school since the last day she went (a week ago due to Thanksgiving). She really enjoys going.

Each week they "study" a letter of the alphabet. This week is the letter j. Most of their activities revolve around that letter. Today they made junk sculptures. She said that each kid made something out of junk and to ask what it is. This is Halee's. Can you guess what it is??? It's Little Baby Jesus! When we got home she was looking for his eyes and could only find one. You can't see it in this picture, but there is an eye in there!!

This is her coloring page of the day. When they first arrive at school, there are many options of things for them to do. Coloring is always one of them. Most days she just colors a small amount of the picture and then moves onto something else. Not today! I thought you might enjoy seeing her color page!

Also, they will be having a Christmas program December 10th. So today they came home with the words to Away in a Manger to learn by then. Also a poem about the 3 Kings. I remember Hannah doing this same thing. We'll practice and see how it goes. I'll try and post some video of the program!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

For Thanksgiving, we went to Billings to be with Ed's family. His brother and family were there also. It was fun for the girls to play together. This is Chloe and Halee in their dress-up clothes. Chloe wore this dress all day - she went from jammies to Cinderella to jammies!

Today before we left, Hannah and Halee did some dressing up. Here is Halee.

And here is Hannah.

Christmas came early at our house. Ed and I both got a new computer - that is 2 of them - one desk top for me and a laptop for Ed. (So, if you are wondering what to get us for Christmas, $ to go towards the computer fund would be great!!!!!) Anyway, Ed set up my computer at his parents house to check it out. Here everyone is watching a game being played.

Well, I have this really cute video of all the girls singing, but blogger is not letting me load it. I'll try again another day!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Sorry it has been so long since I've written. Things seem to have been crazy the last week or so. I think it mostly started with a charter that I did over the weekend. I took a bus load of kids to Billings to a youth rally thing for their church. I left Friday afternoon and got some Sunday morning at 2 am. Also, last Friday was Grandparents Day at Hannah's school. So , Mike and Peggy came over on Thursday for that. They took Hannah home with them. Then she got to ride the bus home with me. Anyway, here are some highlights of this week!

Here is a project that Halee did at school this week. The turkey is her hand print. They painted each finger a color and she stamped it on the paper (that is how she explained it to me!).

Last night was bath night. They wanted to take a bath my tub so that they could have bubbles. In the past when I turned the bubbles on, Halee jumped out of the tub. Last night they both had a good time!

Today at school, Hannah had a little Thankgiving program. She was to dress as a pilgrim. They made the hat and necklace at school.

Here she is singing her songs. They do sign language to most songs that they learn and that is why her hand is up!

This is just a picture of her class as they sing.

Here is a picture of just the girls in her class.

And for the videos. Here are a few of the songs they sang.

Here are a few of the projects that Hannah brought home today. The pumpkin is made of circles. They folded them in half, cut a slit and then put them on another circle. She was telling me about the turkey the other day. When they were making the feathers, they decided they looked like tear drops. She said they would hold them by their eyes! The other is a pilgrim girl made out of a paper plate.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

We woke up to snow this morning. Of course, the girls couldn't wait to play in it. This morning before we even left for our bus route, they were outside making snow balls! While Halee was at school this morning, Hannah and I made this snowman. Halee made this ant at school today. They are talking about insects.

As you can see, I had my bus at home. Yesterday Ed called me at lunch and said that his truck wouldn't start and the starter was out. He got it home and then took me to work and he kept the van. I just brought the bus home last night and had it here all day. It was kind of nice to be able just go on my route without having to go get the bus! The down side was that I had to clean all the snow off if it this morning. Anyway, Ed got his truck fixed and he came and got me at the bus barn this evening. So, all is back to normal.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

For those of you far away and are wondering how Hannah is doing in school, I wanted to share what we learned at her first parent/teacher conference. She's doing great! Academically, she is right on track. This is her report card. I don't know if you'll be able to read it. She got S+ in almost everything except math. She is having some trouble with her numbers, mostly just writing them backwards (including writing 17 71). She also got S's in Science, Social Studies, Music and Spanish. I think that means that she particiaptes and does fine. The comment at the bottom says, "Hannah is sometimes saddened to the point of tears with separation anxieties, this first quarter at school." We mostly talked about that in the conference. Sometimes she just gets sad and cries and we don't really know why. Mrs. King has tried everything she knows and sometimes she still just cries. We don't really know what to do. She is excited about school, enjoys school and has no problem going or coming home. HMMMMmmmmm. I did ask if she is having more better days than sad days and Mrs. King said yes. So, we are making progress and hopefully those days will come to an end.

The following pictures are some projects that Hannah has done at school over the course of time that Mrs. King gave to us at the conference. I tried to put them in order from oldest to newest. If you look at the way she wrote her name on this paper compared to some papers later on, you'll see a big difference!